What Are Equifax Alerts

About Equifax India

Equifax is one of the leading credit information companies in India. It is registered in India as Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited (ECIS). It caters to banks and non-banking financial companies amongst other authorized users. It provides a broad range of solutions related to credit information, business analytics and risk management for its members across India.

Equifax India is headquartered in Mumbai and has its branch offices in Bangalore and Delhi. It is a joint venture between Equifax Inc., USA and seven leading Indian financial institutions - State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited, Religare Finvest Limited, Sundaram Finance Limited and Union Bank of India. It is registered and authorized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish and run a credit information company under the Credit Information Companies Act of 2005.

The consumer credit bureau of Equifax was launched in September 2010. Equifax also launched a separate, dedicated Microfinance bureau in 2011 to address the lending and regulatory requirements of the microfinance institutions of India.

Products offered by Equifax India

Equifax provides a broad range of solutions related to credit information, business analytics and risk management for its member institutions.

Member institutions are required to report their customers’ credit-related activity to the credit bureaus operational in India (Equifax, CIBIL™, Experian, Highmark™) periodically—generally on a monthly basis. Included in the report is information on the individual customer’s repayment history, details regarding any missed or late payment, defaults, total credit limit, age and number of credit accounts active, number of loan and credit card applications and corresponding approvals or rejections, number of enquiries etc. Equifax collects and aggregates this information from its members in a readable format called the credit information report. The data in the report is also subjected to advanced mathematical computation to arrive at a credit score for the individual. The data thus processed, and other related products on individual consumers, offers a variety of beneficial uses to the lender.

Apart from maintaining a repository of individual credit information within the formal banking system, Equifax also works closely with Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) in India to include individuals who might not have an extensive credit history. Using latest technology and strategic platforms, Equifax provides customized solutions to the Microfinance sector as well as the formal banking sector.

As a credit information company, Equifax also provides other credit related services to lenders, borrowers, businesses and consumers; services related to consumer bureau like Equifax Alerts, Prescreen of One, etc.; multi-bureau solutions; value added services and verification services.

Only registered and authorized Equifax members are allowed to access the Equifax credit bureau, its database and allied services. Members who have successfully provided the requisite verification data, data regarding borrowers, etc., to Equifax are the ones permitted to access its services.

Equifax Consumer Bureau

The consumer credit bureau of Equifax was launched in September 2010. Apart from providing lenders and borrowers with Credit Information Reports (CIR), it also provides portfolio reviews, Equifax Dimensions, screening services, risk scores and alerts amongst other allied services to cater to the changing requirements of its customer base. The services offered by the consumer bureau covers a whole range of products.

It offers consumer credit files from all regions across India with the repayment trends of the consumer across all loans and credit cards held. Equifax Alerts is one such product offered by the consumer bureau.

What are Equifax Alerts

Equifax provides its members with two kinds of alerts:

Activity Alerts

Activity alerts are a series of credit notification alerts delivered to lenders by utilizing data from Equifax's credit file. This tool alerts the lenders to recent credit-active customers in their portfolio who have in the recent times shown a need for additional credit and are seeking fresh sources of credit. This tool helps lenders monitor the behavior of their credit-active customers actively and have updated information on their credit requirements, thus enabling more efficient decision making.

Lenders are able to make a decision quickly based on the recent credit activity trends of their customer. This is made possible because of the Activity Alerts.

Collection Alerts

This tool helps lenders identify the appropriate time for re-initiating collection activities (for customers who are failing to make timely repayments) through alerts that flag when a consumer's ability to repay has improved.

On the other hand, it alerts the lenders when a borrower’s ability to pay is falling, so that collection activity may be suspended to avoid incurring extra costs that is unlikely to yield a satisfactory result.

Equifax Collection Alerts enable changes to lenders’ collection process by offering solutions designed which optimize collection efforts and thereby optimize the amount of money spent in collection activities. It makes the collection process more efficient by offering solutions and tools that promote greater efficiencies in the collections process.